Thanks for the Ride

Goodbye Thailand

2008-08-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

I have five days left before I leave Thailand. I’m sad, but I’m also excited. I’ve changed quite a bit (I can only imagine what a mission does for people). I’m confident and not as afraid of the world as I’ve been before. My testimony has grown as I’ve learned (or at least scratched the surface of) how the gospel fits into the global spectrum. I’ve stopped obsessing about the future. I’ve learned the value of throwing plans out the window to instead sit and talk with a stranger or to see what’s over the huge bridge I pass everyday.

My friends and I were talking about how it’s going to be weird to text again. I cut into the conversation to point out the benefits of texting and I started to present an argument that I had used several times back home, and one I had completely agreed with, before realizing how absolutely ridiculous it sounded. “Texting is good because sometimes you just need a quick piece of information from someone and you don’t want to have to go through social obligations of saying “Hello” and “How are you doing?”

Ludicrous. The words sounded absolutely ludicrous as I spoke them because here in Thailand the point of life is not the little piece of information…the point of life IS the social "obligation." It's all about the short phone call that ends up being three hours long because your friend needs to work through her break up, or the two minute grocery trip that turns into an hour chat when you realize that the clerk behind the counter has a super interesting life. It's about giving your seat to the grandma, not because you're a gentleman or a girlscout and that's what you do, but because the grandma needs a place to sit. I don’t want to go back because I am just starting to get it! I’m starting to understand what life is really about and I’m afraid that when I go back I’ll slide back into my obsession with accomplishment and forget to balance it with sincere fulfillment. I’m afraid I’ll let my to-do list become my life again instead of using it as a tool within my life. My life is about people, self-development, and God and I’m afraid that I will forget that when I go back home!

…Ha… Except that I guess I’ve forgotten that home is also my life. Thailand has been a great experience, but what I’ve learned here is useless unless I can learn how to implement and internalize it back in the USA. Even though Southeast Asia has amazing qualities, and their social structure is much more conducive towards relaxation and human interaction, America has incredible characteristics as well that help faciliate real relationships and happiness. At times, running away from home may be necessary; it's helped me step back and closely examine myself and where I've come from. But the real challenge, and I guess the whole point of life, is learning to muster the strength and humility required to go back—and not just to go back, but to go back and make it work, to encompass the strengths from both worlds for the purpose of creating a beautiful life, and to do it with the people I love.

Meditation Retreat

2008-08-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

Jessica and I decided to go on a two day Buddhist meditation retreat. We met at a Buddhist monk university with a bunch of other backpackers. The retreat is a free service provided for tourists. First we were introduced to Buddhism. A monk explained that Buddhism is not a religion, but a way of life. Everyone can be a Buddhist as long as they follow the precepts of Buddhism which include spreading loving-kindness to the world, enriching and developing your soul through deep introspection and self-mastery, and discovering the path that leads to a balanced life.

After the introduction they drove us up to an incredibly well-kept campus complete with dorms, a large meditation hall, and a dining hall. Once we got there we were asked to change into all white, and then to refrain from speaking the rest of the day. It was so peaceful. Granted it did kind of look like we belonged to an insane asylum as we wondered around the yard, but the silence and the white really set a tone of respect and reverence.

We met in the meditation hall and sat on mats listening to the Buddhist monks in front as they explained different techniques. Their purpose was very clear. They weren’t hoping to convert us to their doctrine; they were only offering ways to exercise the mind in hopes that it would help us attain peace. “You (westerners in general) eat food and exercise in order to strengthen your body, but you don’t take the time to feed and exercise your mind.”

I always thought that meditation was this practice where you fell into intense concentration about deep and complex issues and some meditation techniques may facilitate that, but what we were taught was that meditation focuses on simplicity rather than the complex. Our monk used the term, “monkey mind” to describe the way our thoughts constantly jump around all over the place and he taught that meditation practices are simple exercises used to gain control over our mind. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant until we started the meditation.

The first technique we learned was walking meditation. We stood and started chanting “standing, standing, standing, intending to walk.” Then we would slowly lift our right foot move it a step in front of us, and then gently set it down while chanting “right (lift the right foot) go (move it forward) thus (set it down).” And then we would switch to the left foot. We did it forever! (okay, it was like 15 minutes, but it felt like forever). The whole point was to focus on, and only on, our movement. Anytime our minds wondered we were told to acknowledge the thought, figure out (I'm second from the left) why we were thinking it, and then to gently focus back on our movement. It was incredible. I had no idea how much my mind jumps around! It was so hard to live in the present moment. I was in the present, but my mind was jumping from first grade when I slid on the sidewalk, to high school graduation when I was trying to decide if I should take a picture with Jon Daniels, to 6th grade when the missionaries came over. I was thinking about everything I had to do the next day, everything that had happened the day before. I was imagining conversations that had never happened, and situations that probably never would happen. Heck, I was writing this blog in my head! What was interesting to note was how many times certain thoughts kept coming up. “Okay, I’m thinking this…I’m thinking it again…and again, hmmm.” Very insightful and so dang hard! I found that the meditation which included simple physical movement was easier for me, but Jessica did really well with meditation that focused on sound, and other people did well when theu just focused on breathing.

The way my mind jumps around isn’t always a bad thing, however, I realized how I’ve let myself become a slave to these thoughts. I worry about things that I have absolutely no control over, I freak out about something that hasn’t happened, I let thoughts get in the way of the things I really want to accomplish. I have a great imagination, but it has been a curse as well as a blessing because I haven’t been able to control when and where I let my mind wonder. I keep thinking about how good this would be for people who are addicted to pornography. Pornography is a huge problem at BYU and all I could think about is how much suffering could be eased if we all practiced simple exercises everyday that strengthened our ability to control where our thoughts run off to. I never realized the benefit of meditation. It's not a hokey religious practice that wastes time, but it's a valuable, practical exercise that could help us take a little bit more control of our lives.

Thai Cooking Class

2008-08-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

I love the food in Thailand. It is so delicious, cheap, and there are street vendors selling it to you every 5 meters. Some of my favorite foods here are rice sausages, juicy fried chicken and fish, roti and bananas, the pancake man’s fortune cookie batter fried on a skillet to make a tortilla shape, folded, and then stuffed with blueberry filling, bananas, and chocolate, mangos and sticky rice, gyotza (fried potstickers), Masaba (roti filled with dry yellow curry), cantalope boba drinks with tapioca balls at the bottom of the cup, fried bananas, pad thai, khao soi, sticky rice and meat with chili sauce, skewers of pork, pineapple, and peppers, spring rolls, waffles shaped like fish filled with strawberry, chocolate, coconut, or blueberry filling, mango cheese cake, coconut crackers, little coconut cakes, fried dough balls dipped in yummy sauce, real fruit shakes, Ovaltine drinks (I’m totally serious), pancakes with egg in the batter, chicken with cashews, tomato macaroni like you’ve never had it before…the list could go on and on. This food is everywhere you go! And you can usually get any item for about 30 cents.

So this was a long introduction, but my point is…I’ve gained 10 pounds. Okay, that’s not my point, but I thought I’d throw that out there anyways. My point is that I am going to be really sad to leave all this food so I decided to take a Thai cooking class. Me and my friend Dani spent a day learning how to cook six Thai dishes. We were picked up in the morning and taken to the local market to buy ingredients (Thai’s normally go to the market everyday to pick up the ingredients for their meals that day. They hardly have any food in their cupboards). Then we went to a women’s house. Outside of her home under a tin roof were about twenty gas burning stoves (Thai don’t use ovens), a bunch of counters, mats to sit on while you pound curry, and some sinks. It was a great outdoor kitchen. We learned how to make Masiyana, yellow, and green curry, sweet and sour chicken, pad thai (noodles with sauce, peanuts, lime, bean sprouts, and egg), chicken cashew nut stuff, Som Tum (papaya salad), Khoa soi (noodles in coconut soup—a northern thai specialty), ground chicken with basil leaves (“A Thai’s favorite dish”), mangos and sticky rice, steamed banana cake, and some other stuff. We ate all the food we made, it was ridiculous and I could hardly move when I got home that night. She gave us a cookbook so when I get home, I am going to start cooking Thai food. Yay!

Bangkok!!!!!

2008-08-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

“You and me have seen everything to see. From BANGKOK to Calgary.” Okay, I haven’t been to Calgary yet, but I can at least sing the first part of the song. Yes I went to Bangkok. Jessica and I had a little mix up with our tickets so I arrived in Bangkok by myself a day early. I got to the airport at one in the morning so I slept on the airports plastic benches until that morning. It was my job to find the train station, buy tickets back to Chiang Mai, and find a place to stay. I figured out how to use the local buses because I didn’t want to pay tons of money to take taxis everywhere (okay the most expensive ride is $15, but I’m spoiled here), I wanted a less touristy experience, and I felt safer riding around the city with a big group of locals. Whelp, I did it! I spent a day going all over Bangkok by myself and it was great. I was really impressed with myself. If you would have asked me to go to Bangkok by myself at the beginning of this summer I would have laughed in your face, but today I feel more confident in my ability to evaluate and maintain my personal safety. I feel confident in my ability to take care of myself even though in a place as foreign as Bangkok. I would have rather been with someone, but circumstance didn’t allow it so I dealt with it. Those who know me well will know this was a big accomplishment. My other friends came the next day. We stayed on Khao San Road; it’s this famous-touristy-backpacker-market-haven road. It was fun and I found a sticky rice and mango vendor so I was happy. We went to the huge shopping malls, the Chatuchuk market (largest outdoor market in the world…that’s their claim anyways), rode on boats through the disgusting river, rode the sky train, visited the Grand Palace, and the Royal Wat, saw a HUGE, I’m talking big, reclining Buddha, and did it all for under $30…food included. Bangkok was great but after two days I was ready to go back home to Chiang Mai. I’m partial because I lived in Chiang Mai the longest, but I think it’s prettier and has a more peaceful feel to it than Bangkok and Phuket. I took a 13 hour sleeper train up from Bangkok and I am now back to my home. Unfortunately I will be leaving in less than a week.

Phuket!!!!

2008-08-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Puket is an island at the tip of Thailand. It’s definitely not a resort city, but the beaches are gorgeous. Turquoise water, white sand, pineapple and mangos: Can life get better than this? I submit that it cannot. Going there was a perfect break after the two weeks of “go-go-go.” Just a couple friends and I went to Phuket and stayed at a hostel taking day trips out the island’s beaches. Our days were like this: We slept-in, played at the beach all day, went out to eat, came home, and watched movies and talked all night. It’s kinda disgusting how lazy that week was, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it thoroughly. At the hostel we met a bunch of really interesting and cool Europeans. So apparently almost all Europeans take about a year off to travel the world after they graduate either from high school of college. Incredible. They aren’t super rich either. They just spend a year working before hand, and then they use their saved money to backpack across the globe. If they run out of money they go to Australia to work for a bit and then off they go again. These backpackers aren’t bums either. I met a girl who's about to start med school, another guy who's going to law school. Europeans whole social structure supports this yearlong journey. And in Italy during the summer, the entire nation is empty because everyone goes on holiday. One of my Italian friends laughed at me in disbelief when I asked him if he had ever done summer school? “What is summer school? How can you go to class when the schools are shut down?” American’s may have more money because we work an extra year and during the summer, but Europeans seem to have far more interesting lives. However…some of them spend all their time drinking at pubs…not sure why you would pay tons of money to travel the world drunk…but the majority of the people we met stayed sober most of the time. :) Regardless of the Europeans, Phuket was cool.

Malaysia!!!!

2008-08-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

I didn’t have any idea what to expect from Malaysia. I had never learned about it in school, and I had never watched “Zoolander,” but I ended up being very impressed. It is the second most industrialized nation of Southeast Asia (Singapore is the first). Unfortunately there was some shady dealings and the agency who set up our excursion short changed our Malaysian tour guides. But they were intrigued because they had heard that we were a group of missionaries and they decided figured out a way to show us around the country by cutting their wages from the two-day trip’s expenses. We were grateful for that because we got to do some amazing things. We went to their national palace that acts as their “White House.” We also visited the place where they signed their declaration of independence, and a monument that honored those who had died in the first and second world wars. We went to the Petronas Towers (former tallest buildings in the world, now the tallest twin towers in the world). We went to two HUGE caves. Each rooms inside the caves were as big as a basketball arena. And my favorite thing we did was a night boat ride down a river to watch large glow bugs. They covered the bushes along the banks of the river and looked like sparkling Christmas trees. Instead of eating at fancy restaurants like we had been doing in the previous countries, we ate at local outdoor cafes, which were still delicious. I also loved visting the Muslim mosques. I've been learning quite about Islam and the more I learn the more I realize how similar it is to my personal beliefs. It's unfortunate that most of the western world has a slightly skewed perception about muslims and Islam, at least I did anyways. The majority of muslims are amazing people trying to grow closer to the Lord through a beautiful religion.

Cambodia!!!!!! (part 2)

2008-08-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

I don't know whose reading this...but adults should probably read it before they let kids look at it. We took a bus down to Phnom Phen the next day. The country is poverty-stricken. Although it is doing much better today, the wounds beset by the horrific Pol Pot Regime run deep within the people and the countryside. We bought so much stuff that we didn’t really need or want, but we couldn’t help it because we knew that the vendor selling us the fried spiders, or the Thai silk, or the overpriced postcards lived on the edge of desperation.

The first stop we made that day was an old high school used as a torture prison during the Khmer Rouge occupation. We walked through “classrooms” that were empty except for a metal bed frame and huge blown up picture of the dead body found in the room when Vietnam invaded the city over 30 years ago. Outside the school was a large wooden frame where prisoners were hung upside down and lowered into buckets of water. Another building of the school was dedicated to explaining other torture techniques used during the KR occupation. The most profound room had pictures of the faces of all the men, women, and children (some as young as three-years-old) who belonged to the Khmer Rouge and were brought to the prison as suspected spies. The Khmer Rouge was paranoid of mutiny so they became fanatical about finding traitors within their own organization. “Give us names! Give us names!” the torturers demanded so the prisoners gave them random names to stop the pain. Taking the names, the tortures brought in new group of innocent victims who were met with the same fate as those before them. It was a vicious, bloody cycle of paranoia. Out of the hundreds of prisoners who entered, only seven made it out alive.

After spending some time there we drove over to see the killing fields monument. I was expecting to walk through actual rice fields maintained specifically in remembrance of those who died during the KR occupation. Instead we drove up to a small forest. In front of the forest stood a huge monument filled with the skulls of people who had died at that spot. But where were we? The KR had people working in fields all over the country. What made this spot special? The tour guide motioned us towards a small pavilion, and to our horror we realized that it covered a large sunken cavity in the ground, a mass grave. Men, women, and children who labored in the work camps throughout the region came to this forest for execution. Together they dug a large grave, and then they would kneel at the side of it. A KR officer would knock them unconscious into the graves with the butt of their guns, and then the KR would bury the victims alive. It was awful. We were sick. We had all studied about what had happened in Cambodia, we had read books about it, but it was an entirely different experience to stand face to face with the evidence of its reality. I started walking further down the path to get away from the grave, but right in front of me a few meters away was another one. I walked further down hoping to find some kind of respite, but the path turned and my blood ran cold. Stretched before me was a grassy field covered with dozens of large sunken cavities. A group of students gathered around pieces of clothing that had surfaced during the rain that morning. Teeth, skulls, and bones stuck up through the graves and the heavily beaten path. Silence reigned supreme during those twenty minutes. Some students ducked in a corner to cry, others left the group to sit by themselves and reconcile questions like, “Why?” and “How?” The day before we had witnessed the glorious pinnacle of human creation only to witness the next day the shameful pinnacle of human obliteration.

It’s hard not to lose faith in humanity after seeing something like that. It’s hard not to let fear strangle my expectation, or at least hope, of some kind of mortal peace. I took awhile to write this post because I’m not sure what anyone would get from reading it. But I guess I can tell you how my trip to Cambodia affected me. First I forgot about the whole thing because I didn’t want to deal with it. But after a few days I got jumpy, I found that my thoughts were randomly plagued with scary images, and I became paranoid that something bad might happen. I felt like I was protecting myself by “not letting my guard down”—by facing the fact that bad things happen and they would probably happen to me. But what took me a while to realize was that paranoia and fear were the very elements that caused thing like the Cambodian Killing Fields, and the Jewish Holocaust, and the Rawandan Genocide. Bad things do happen, but I let the possibility of something bad happening cloud the reality of how good still far outweighs the bad. It’s important to learn about the evil of which humans are capable, but we learn it not to let fear overcome our thoughts and actions, but for our thoughts and actions to overcome our fears.

Cambodia!!!!!!! (part 1)

2008-08-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

After visiting Ho Chi Min we flew to Siem Reap. That first day was a free day so two other girls and I hired a tuk-tuk and we went exploring around the city. We passed by several markets, a school, a group of young boys playing in a water hole, a group of women riding bikes to work, little girls walking along a canal. One of my favorite places we visited was a Cambodian orphanage. Little kids jumped out to greet us, tease us, and play with us. They spoke English almost fluently. The older students took care of the younger ones while the adult worked. All the children were happy and energetic. We learned that they went to a school run completely off donations and it was an incredible success. I was touched in the thirty minutes we spent with them.

Next, we spent the entire next day visiting the ancient temples of Cambodia. Siem Reap used to house one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world. The temples were…wow. We visited one temple that had large trees growing all over the ancient stone architecture. Huge twisting roots grew through windows, around columns, and over stairs and fountains. It was exactly how you would imagine an ancient ruin to look. I guess they filmed the movie “Tomb Raider” at this temple. There was another fascinating temple called “the face temple”. About a hundred stone men, each with unique faces and clothing, stood out side the gate of the temple holding two large stone serpents (Nagas) The Nagas are supposed to protect the temple from the evils of the outside world. As soon as I walked inside the temple an eerie chill swept over me. Huge faces, the size of a garage door, stared at me from every direction. Every face was unique, magnificent and silhouetted by the soft purple sky at dusk. It was so cool! Finally, we visited the most popular temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the World: the majestic Angkor Wat. It was beautiful. Almost all the walls were covered with intricate stone carvings. According to our tour guide, the stone carvers who worked on the ancient temples were put to death if they made any mistakes on the holy walls. Yikes. I guess the threat worked because I didn’t see any mistakes. Later that night we hiked up to the highest point in the city and sat on the stones of another ancient temple and watched the sunset across the city. It was weird to think how such a powerful kingdom could turn to ruins in only a matter of a few centuries.

I'm an Aunt!!!!!!

2008-07-11T04:05:00.000-07:00

He's big, he's beautiful. He's Baby Moody!!!! My sister, Kirsten, and her husband, Mark, had their baby on July 9!!!! Yeah! He's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute! I can't wait to go home! I miss him already!

Vietnam!!!!

2008-07-11T03:50:00.000-07:00

I went to Vietnam! That makes me cool! Holy moly! Okay, so first we went to Ha Noi. The layout is really neat. As we flew in it looked like a bunch of dark green islands in a sea of rice fields. The dark green islands are small hamlets with green trees and roads. They are each about one to two square miles. When the Vietnam war was going on Ho Chi Mihn decentralized the city because the Americans kept bombing it. Now Ha Noi is more centralized than before, but a lot of the prior city structure remains. The architecture is gorgeous. Super colorful town houses. Everyone eats dinner outside in front of their town houses. They point their chairs toward the sidewalk so they can talk to people who pass by. I love it. We went to a water puppet show, and then went to Ho Chi Mihn's mausoleum. I saw the embalmed body of Ho Chi Mihn encased in glass. After Ha Noi we flew to Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon). Traffic is crazy!!!! We went to a rubber tree plantation, the Cu chi tunnels and then to the Vietnam war museum. It was a physically and emotionally taxing day. I came away with the convicition that if people go to war they'd better have a DANG good reason for it because it effects millions of innocent people for years and years after the fact. War is disgusting. Yuck, yuck, yuck. All I could think about was the last chapters of the book of Mormon. Luckily there are tons of people who are helping the victims and veterans from that war and the current tragedies now facing the earth. We haven't lost our humanity.

Laos!!!

2008-07-07T03:45:00.000-07:00

I'm in Luang Prabang right now...that's in Laos. I couldn't point to Laos on a map before I got here, but now I have spent two days floating down the Mekong river across Laos, and touring around a Laotian village and town. In Luang Prabang there is quite a bit of French influence because of the French occupation last century. But it's interesting because it's mixed with Asian culture as well. So what you get is the most amazing baguettes ever, quaint French architecture embedded into Southeast Asian radiance. Yesterday I had the opportunity to offer alms to the monks who walk the streets early, early in the morning collecting sticky rice. The streets were covered in bright orange and yellow as hundreds of monks made their way through the streets. We visited a gorgeous Buddhist shrine located in a cave at the base of a huge limestone cliff. The food is really good; they use a lot of fish, however, I finally got the dreaded Southeast Asian food sickness. That wasn't fun. Today we went to a huge waterfall. Beautiful! It's pretty amazing here and tomorrow I fly to Vietnam! Wahoo!

Last Days at Soppoengwitta School

2008-07-07T03:00:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but I am finished teaching. Even though it was only a one and half month thing and I am really happy it's over because I was running out of lesson plan ideas, I was quite sad to say goodbye to the children. On the last day Pa-ah (director) formally said goodbye to us during morning announcements and thanked us for our modesty and politeness (cause apparently the Austrailian who had come to teach before had questionable teaching habits) and then later that day served us a special lunch of Pad Thai (our favorite) with all the teachers, in the special teachers' room. It was a great honor. During lunch some of the 6th graders had Jessica and I come out to the candy store and there waiting was a group of about 20 students including one student who had a colorful box over his head that said "teacher!" All in unison the kids yelled, "We love teacher!" and then they dramatically pulled back a blue cloth off a desk to reveal a beautiful piece of artwork made out of Popsicles sticks, glue, and paper. They gave me my favorite chocolate treat and ice cream because I had bought it a lot while I was there. We were touched. The things I'm going to miss the most is Kru Daretts laugh when she told us about the 'bird hotel', Gong's happy chatter in the mornings, the little girl who everyday, without fail, ran up to me and exclaimed, "Aree! Beautiful," the other little girl who insisted on giving me a hug every time she saw me and because of her height her hands always wrapped right around my bum, the teachers who always told us we were getting fat, and heck, even the rambunctious first grade boys who rolled around on the floor wrestling each other through our entire lesson. Good times. So here's my tribute to the Soppoengwitta School. To all the teachers who drove miles to teach the low income children, to Pa-ah who sacrificed all his time and money for the betterment of the students and their educations, and especially to all the children who are fighting against the poverty cycle and helping to bring their families and their culture a better future. I will miss you all!

The picture may be a little blury, but I promise that's me on an elephant

2008-06-20T20:04:00.001-07:00

So after a super long trek through wilderness we were met with 10 large elephants ready to take us to our final destination. I stood face to face with an elephant and looked into her dark eyes. "What are you thinking? What are your stories? What are your secrets?" I wondered. But she never said. Then, without warning the great gray beast knelt before me and allowed me to climb up her large limbs and Brighton and I sat on the metal seat fastened to the elephants back. As she stood I was afraid I was going to die and as she started walking I was sure of it. But after I got over the initial jitters I was amazed at how graceful our elephant stepped. The methodical movement of those log-legs were very ballerina-esque and I felt like I was in a rocking cradle. The gorgeous view was an added bonus.

Quest to the Waterfall

2008-06-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Our group took a detour during our hill tribe trip to hike through a jungle and find a waterfall. The hike led us to super tall rounded trees cover with thick leaves and moss. They looked like giant green statues. The large vines that were draped through thick branches reminded me of streamers at a birthday party. We saw a large pool filled with clear turquoise water. Sun beams that broke through the jungle canopy mixed with humid mist cast a magical aura throughout woods. Exotic flowers caught light in their waxy petals giving off the illusion that they were glowing. Large colorful spiders sat contently on their sparkling webs. Dejavu. I've been here before...but when? And then I remembered. This is the place my backyard turned into when I was a little girl.

Hike to the Hill Tribes

2008-06-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

I hiked to some hill tribes with the group a few weeks ago. It was beautiful. First we hiked through a thick jungle and then we climbed up a steep muddy and hill and when we reached the top...Ahhhhh (angles singing)...a gorgeous valley spread across the landscape. A checkerboard of deep yellow, dark green, and purplish blue fields blanketed large rolling hills leading to majestic cliffs contrasted against a dark grayish-blue sky. Little rays of sun poked through thick cloud cover. The rest of the 20 km hike was like this. Stunning views, beautiful smells, and a peaceful breeze were our constant companions through the entire trek. I'm pretty sure it was the portal to heaven.

Read posts and sorry about the comment button

2008-06-01T04:36:00.000-07:00

I just posted a bunch of posts. They don't all show up on this page, but you should read them. Go to the Blog archive on the left hand side of the blog and click June to see all my posts! And I'm sorry about the comment box not working. I don't really know why it doesn't work. If you have any ideas please email me: alysej@gmail.com

So…I went to Burma

2008-06-01T03:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you who saw Rambo, don’t worry, I’m okay. You may be wondering why our group decided to go to Burma despite the dangers resulting from its tyrannical dictatorship. The answer: We were getting our visas renewed. When you enter Thailand you are allowed to stay for 30 days. If you want to renew your visa you can do it for $60 in the city, or leave the country and come back in for $10. We chose the later and took a road trip. So all 11 of us rented a van and Brother Dang drove us to the Golden Triangle (a central port in the opium trade). We’ve been told it is completely safe to enter Burma in the north. It was an amazing trip.

On the Thai side of the border outdoor markets flourished, shops and restaurants were well maintained and busy with customers, the paved roads were in good condition. I was surprised at the immediate difference I saw on the Burma side of the border. It felt like I had gone back 50 years. Outdoor markets were not nearly as numerous as in Thailand. Road were cracked and decayed. Buildings were falling apart and homes and shops were built with the thin metal, cardboard, and grass. I’ve seen conditions like this in Thailand, however, it was surprising because this city was on the border. Border cities are usually centers of commerce and wealth, yet this city exhibited the traits of a poor country village. It would be interesting to go deeper into the country and see what the living conditions are like there.

We only spent a few hours in Burma, but something happened to me in that country. We rode around on little motorbike taxies and tour several temples and Wats, but it was the people who were the most fascinating. Most of the women and children wore chalk on their cheeks to protect their skin from acne causing oils, and from the sun. Some images that day will forever be burned into my heart. As we rode down a dusty street we passed a 30-ish year-old man squatting in a pile of trash he dumped from a nearby garbage and feasting on its contents like he hadn’t eaten for weeks. We passed a 10-ish year-old boy smoking a cigar.

As we were getting ready to leave the country a small skinny boy, 5 or 6, dressed in rags put his hands together and gave me the most piercing gaze as he begged for a few cents. All I could do was stare at him. I knew he was putting on a show for the tourists, but his overly dramatic demonstration held the undeniable truth of his circumstances. I could feel the stress of his life reach up and grab my heart. My friend dropped a few baht into his little hands and I broke my gaze. A few minutes later I was informed that the little boy had reached his hand into the pocket of someone in our party before he was caught. I congratulated myself at first for seeing through the boy’s act, until I suddenly realized that I was also an actor in a much more sickening game. Denying monetary support was not nearly as despicable as my delusion of superiority.

Road Trip

2008-06-01T03:10:00.000-07:00

The group of students and teachers that I am traveling with took a road trip last Wednesday. First of all, the drive up was absolutely gorgeous! I can’t explain to you how beautiful Thailand is. Everywhere you look is a breathtaking vista. North Thailand has huge mountains covered in thick jungles overlooking vast rice fields dotted with grass huts, old villages, wats, and animals. I tried to take pictures of what I saw, but pictures don’t capture the smell of the grasses, pictures don’t capture the movement of mountain mist, and pictures don’t capture the reality of the moment.

My professor arrived in Thailand last Sunday so he came up to Burma with us. He is definitely one of my favorite teachers of all time. It was so awesome because on our drive we asked questions on history, philosophy, religion, and current events and Ralph (our professor) would go into these awesome impromptu philosophical lectures that deepened our thoughts and rattled our beliefs. He’s the kind of teacher who carefully prods you to reach inside yourself and examine the beliefs and cultural ideas you never thought to consider, but that were always there. Lectures like that shake up my intellectual and spiritual insides and force me to evaluate myself. It’s sometimes painful…like cleaning your room.

A room that is messy can look relatively clean on the outside, but under your bed and in your closet things are stuffed in a big unorganized mess—gathering dust. When you clean your room you have to pull everything out before you can start putting it back in. Doing so is scary and frustrating because your room starts to look even more messy than before you started to clean. Each item has to be pulled out, dusted off, and thoroughly examined. You have to decide what the item is and where it should go. A lot of stuff ends up in the garbage and, in the end, there is always a box of miscellaneous stuff left over that you never could decide what to do with. It’s painful, but you end up understanding yourself and your surroundings on a more profound level.

Teaching stories

2008-06-01T03:02:00.000-07:00

Story 1:
I was teaching 6th grade. We were playing a game and it was my job to pick people to come to the front of the classroom. They don’t understand “come up here.,” so I have to motion them to them to get them to get up. How would you do this? Following the American body language, I motioned a boy to the front by turning my palm up and moving my fingers toward and away from my body…bad mistake. Apparently that motion is reserved for prostitutes propositioning new clients…No recovery from that one. I thought I would die after I realized why everyone was hooting and hollering. Sad part is I did it a few more times after that!

Story 2:
On Tuesday we were tired because we had taught 5 classes in a row. A nice teacher had us sit in her room during our break. As we sat there a group of about ten 9-year-olds walked into the classroom and saw that we were tired. Immeditatly I felt little hands begin to massage my shoulders. Other students picked up pick posters and used them as fans. Other students began massaging my arms. Other students began feeding us fruit. I leaned back in my chair and let them do their thing. I had heard about the great massages offered in Thailand, but I’m pretty sure my massage that day topped them all.

Teaching at Soppoengwithaya School

2008-06-01T02:58:00.000-07:00

Every morning at 7:30 am Pa, Ong (an 8th grader at my school), and I drive to Soppoengwithaya school. As we drive into the school students from 5- to 17-years-old wai us. The first day I came the kids wai-ed casually until they saw me and then they stared intently at me before running of to tell their friends about the farong (foreigner).

Before school everyday, all four hundred students line up in the courtyard according to grade and gender and sing the national anthem, salute (wai) the flag, and have announcements. The first day I came Pa spoke to the students and introduced Jessica and I as the new English teachers. Jessica and I were celebrities after that. Students would watch us wherever we went.

We teach all the students in 17 classes throughout the week which means we only see each student once a week. Its nice because we only need to organize one lesson plan per week, but it stinks because our teaching is more ornamental and fun; we won’t be responsible for any huge strides in their English speaking skills.

The kids can read and write English, but they can’t speak it worth beans. We are trying to focus our lessons on teaching the students to speak English. I love teaching the primary classes because the kids love us. The secondary classes aren’t too bad, but they definitely don’t adore us. I’m pretty sure they think we’re dorks and they would be well justified in that conclusion. Actually no, Jessica’s not a dork because I found out that she wore spikes on her hands when she was in high school…cool.

Teaching at the Primary School Near MaeJo University

2008-06-01T02:55:00.000-07:00

So I have been teaching English for two weeks and I really like it. When I was living a MaeJo University, I started teaching at a local primary school down the road. The first day was awful. We had no preparation at all. We just showed up at the school, walked into a 2nd grade class and were asked to teach for an hour. Yikes! It may not have been so bad except that there were five of us in one classroom and we all had different ideas about what to; not to mention the teacher who had ideas of her own. We taught two classes and then went to lunch. The lunch wasn’t very good, but we had to eat it all because the teachers were watching us intently and we didn’t want to offend them. After lunch we were sent to the computer room to email friends and then we were sent home instead of teaching another class.

The next time I taught was with just Jessica. It was nice not to have to teach the class alone, but we also had the flexibility to our own thing. I’m so glad that we got to practice at this primary school for a week because when we transferred to the school we are teaching now we were more prepared.

Aehrei

2008-06-01T02:47:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, I was told that would be given a Thai name. Pa picked one that stood for “Our kid.” I tried to say it, but the word was impossible for me to pronounce. It sounded like Ngn. Basically, in order to say it you had to have the back of your tongue go through your nostrils…or something. It was weird because I swear I was saying it correctly, but they just laughed and laughed anytime I tried to pronounce it. It’s interesting how my brain can’t pick up on the subtle sound differences in the Thai language.

Anyways, they finally decided to give me a new name. Pa said, “Your name—Aeh-rie.” It sounds like “Eh-ree” where the accent is on the “Eh” and you roll the “r.” I thought it sounded beautiful. My host mom said, “Wow! A very good name. The meaning is tofu.” Tofu? They gave me a name that meant tofu? I wasn’t as excited about it anymore, but then I realized that she was saying “thoughtful,” not tofu. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who can’t hear subtle sound difference in a foreign language. I liked Pa’s explanation of my name the best, “A person who is kind…Love everyone.”

Ong

2008-06-01T02:37:00.000-07:00

Ong is 13-years-old and is his mother and father’s pride and joy. When I first met him he would hardly look at or acknowledge me, but I later learned that he manages his shyness by acting nonchalant.

I’ve never seen anyone eat his or her food with such pleasure and satisfaction as Ong eats his. He relishes every bite as he systematically devours every meal. It’s not that he eats a lot, or that he puts on a dramatic scene similar to Bob’s hand shucked corn in “What about Bob?” It’s just that he thoroughly enjoys what he is eating and you can see it on his face. Watching him makes your mouth water and find yourself almost asking to have a bite of what he’s eating until you remember that it’s pickled chicken’s feet and then you’re brought back to you senses.

Pa

2008-06-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

Pa is very reserved and gives me (a female) a large amount of space, however, he is extremely kind and loving despite the physical distance. Pa knows little English, however he still know a lot more English than I know Thai. We have little conversations such as “You like Thai food,” and “Chan chob Durian.”

Pa is the principal at the school I am teaching at. He is very well respect and has received several awards for his teaching and leading accomplishments. However, despite all his hard work, he is very relaxed and easygoing at home. He takes off his shirt and roams the house in a wife beater. Every morning before school he wanders over to the next house over and has breakfast with his parents. When he drives he does so gracefully and smoothly—ebbing and flowing with the traffic. In short, he has figured out how to be efficient minus the stress. I think the society he lives in helps.

Pii

2008-06-01T02:18:00.000-07:00

My host mom is very kind and relaxing yet she exhibits an admirable air of dignity. I think she is absolutely gorgeous with a clear light brown complexion, dark eyes, and big lips. She wears dark square glasses that make her look hip. She is 45 years old. It’s funny because when I first met her I called her “Mae” (mom) and she laughed and corrected me. “I am not Mae. I am young. I am “Pii” (sister). Whoops. It’s funny because if my mom were still alive she would only be 42 years old, so technically Pii could be Mae.

Pii is very smart. She knows several languages and reads a lot. Currently she is teaching at a primary school while also working on a Master’s degree. She is gone this week end to present her thesis about reforming teaching methods in Thai public schools.

I’ve been told that Pii is the epitome of a good Thai housewife: she is on top of everything. However, she doesn’t seem very concerned about clothing, interior decorating, cooking, or cleaning. That’s not to say that she doesn’t dress well, or that her house isn’t well kept, but you can tell that education, work, and family take a higher priority in her life.

She loves Ong and they have cute relationship. It is different than American relationships in that she is physically affectionate towards Ong as if he were a 5-year-old…But it’s not weird as some might assume. It seems perfectly natural, but it does point to some differences between our cultures.

Pii wants me to learn Thai and teaches me everyday. It is nice that she speaks a little English so that she can help me understand what word she is teaching. I have learned a lot from her, but I still have a long way to go before I am capable of carrying out a full conversation in Thai.

Jai Ngam Family (Beautiful Heart)

2008-06-01T02:17:00.000-07:00

I moved in with my Host family! Last Saturday (May 24) my host mom (Pii), dad (Pa), and brother (Ong) came and picked me up at Mae Jo University. I was so excited to see them! I went to give my host mom a hug and she went to wai me, so then I went to wai her and she went to shake my hand, so then I tried to shake her hand, but then she opened her arms for a hug. We ended up giving each other an awkward hug-hand shake-wai thingy…and that pretty much explains how it’s been this whole week.

This whole week has been a careful dance between knowing when to uphold my own culture and when to bow to the Thai culture. The interesting things is that I am dealing with two cultures: the Thai culture and the Jai Ngam family culture.

The family is super laid back and accepting. They want me to be a part of their family and culture, but are also forgiving of my mistakes.

The mom speaks very good English, but it is still difficult sometimes to communicate. They ended up buying me an air-conditioning system, which I definitely did not need all, because I was practicing Thai and had learned to say, “Today it is hot.” I thought it was a joke when Pa said, “Then I will buy you air-conditioning.” But lo and behold, the next day there was a brand new air-conditioning unit in my room! I called my facilitator to ask him what to do, but at that point it would have been very rude to tell them that I liked the old beat up fan better than the new fancy air-conditioning.

There is a lot of awkward silences between us as a result of one us wanting to say something, but not knowing how to communicate it. I’m trying to learn more Thai, but I don’t know enough vocabulary yet to get across what I mean and that is a little frustrating.

Luckily, without the words, we can still communicate how we feel about one another. If it’s nothing more than a polite smile between pa and I, or a fist pound between with Ong, or Pii’s constant watch over me, it’s enough to disclose that we like one another.

I Hand Washed My Own Laundry!

2008-05-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

So the laundry place at the university had been closed all last week and I ran out of clothes. One day I walked outside and saw the group of Pilipinos (who are living in the international dorms too) hanging laundry outside. So I decided to join them. I pulled up my sleeves and washed my clothes in my little bathroom sink and them hanged them out to dry. I was very proud of my self. It took two days for the clothes to dry and when they were dry they were super wrinkly and smelling…darn. Luckily, the laundry place opened up. I gave them three loads of laundry and early the next morning the laundry was clean, dried, and folded…So how much do you think I paid for this service? 90 baht ($3). That’s right. It costs $1.75 to use a washer and dryer on one load of laundry…and you have to do it yourself. I love this place…and I’m going to come back even more spoiled than I already am.

My Lovely Rash

2008-05-22T06:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so apparently you can't be in a foreign country without getting some sort of weird sickness, right? Well, I am praying that this is the worse I get...but about a week and a half ago weird bumps started appearing on my lips. I thought it was cold sores from all the pineapple I was eating, but then the bumps spread to the skin all around my mouth and then my mouth started to swell. Weird and gross. The picture doesn't show it very well, but it was pretty sick. We finally decided that I was allergic to something and that the weird bumps were a rash and not cold sores.

Jul drilled me on what I had eaten the past week. Fruit, rice, fish sauce, coconut milk, and a bunch of other stuff. She still seemed puzzled. "Did you put anything strange on your mouth or peel anything?" Earlier in the week I had put on lip plumper that is rumored to contain snake venom to irritate the lips so they swell. Jul wasn't convinced that the lip stuff (made in America and approved by the FDA) was the cause. "Hmmm, well I peeled a mango with my teeth a few days ago." Jul's eyes widened, "That's it!" Apparently mango peels have some kind of acid in them that can cause skin irritation...on top of that, I didn't wash the mango before I peeled. Oh Madeleine Mahoney: where was my old roommate, who is obsessed with washing fruit and veggies, when I needed her?

Hike to Wat Doi Suthep

2008-05-22T05:37:00.000-07:00

This was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Last Sunday night was Buddha's birthday, the anniversary of his enlightenment, and the anniversary of his death. Starting at 7:39pm (9 is a number of good fortune) thousands of people began climbing a winding mountain road up to the Wat Doi Suthep (a 17-mile hike). We started at 9pm and I guess my adrenaline kicked in because I had tons of energy going up, but it still took me 3 hours. Vendors lined the road selling rice, noodles, water, candy, corn, fruit, and marajuna (even though there were tons of signs with an anime characters giving 'thumbs up' saying "No Smoking Alcohol"). Old women dressed in white, children, teenagers, adults, monks, g'toies (transvestites--very popular in Thailand), rich people, poor people--the crowd was very diverse in age, social status, and cultural beliefs. However, everyone was Asian...that is, of course, except for us. We stuck out like sore thumbs.

I was pretty proud of myself when I finally made it to the top of the mountain. I thought the hard part was done; now all I had to do was ascend the stairs...turns out there were 300 stairs up to the top of Wat Doi Suthep, and to make matters worse thousands and thousands of people were trying to go up to the Wat. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life. People were squished right up to each other trying to push through the crowd to worship in the Wat. Half way up I couldn't handle it any more. I jumped over the side of the stairs into the jungle and climbed up the steep hill leading to the Wat. I grabbed on to vines, branches, and anything else I could get a hold of to keep me from falling to my death. I wasn't the only person hiking up this way, but I was definitely the only white girl--everyone was laughing at me. It took about an hour to get up the steps.

So I made it to the top. Wahoo! Once I walked into the Wat I joined a procession of people circling around the sacred pagoda in complete silence. Old women were asleep under sacred statues. It was a once in a life time experience.

Monkey Farm

2008-05-22T05:33:00.001-07:00

After the Butterfly Farm and Snake Farm we went to the Monkey Farm. When we walked in there was a monkey sitting with a man waiting to greet us. I have no idea what kind of monkey he was, but he was very cute and nice. In order to make sure the monkey didn’t escape the workers put an iron chain around his neck…As I looked out over the farm there were 30-40 monkeys in a large cage and they all had chains around their necks. To make things more depressing, over the loud speakers a sad sappy Thai song droned throughout the park. There were a lot of people who had a hard time at this place because it looked like a prison. We were fine with snakes in the cages, but because monkeys are so human-like it was difficult not to feel sorry about their imprisonment.

Snake Farm

2008-05-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

Okay...This place was super cool! It was located in a small run-down, kind of "sketchy," cement building. Old cages housed pythons, king cobras, alligators, and lizards. A lot of the cobras were feisty (I have a feeling they were made to be irritated so they would give a better show). One of the king cobra's kept striking at us as we goggled him. They metal cage between us and him protected us from his deadly bite, but it bruised and cut up his face with every strike until blood dripped down his nose...it was kind of sad; never thought I'd feel sorry for a king python.

After walking around the farm we were privileged to witness the infamous "Chiang Mai Snake Farm Show!" The theme from Rocky rang through the open air facility. We excitedly took our seats on the rough wood benches preparing for the show of all shows. The emcee spoke some scripted English with a heavy Thai accent. Every time he said anything he would turn the music all the way down: that part alone was pretty hilarious. Then this super attractive Thai boy (probably 15 unfortunately) came out and threw two king cobras to the ground; they immediately started hissing and cussing (okay, they weren't cussing, but they would have been had they been allowed to speak). The cute Thai boy knelt down and poked them with a stick and jumped back every time the snakes got super mad and started to strike. All the girls sat on the back row of the stands. We were squealing and folding up into contorted positions in order to protect us just in case the snakes decided to jump 20 feet into the air and attack us.

Now I know what some of you might be thinking...they took out the poison and the fangs so the snakes weren't dangerous...but the emcee informed us that NO, the snakes still had poison and fangs and they showed us through some random demonstrations. Side note: did you know that a drop of King cobra venom will kill an elephant in one hour...yes ladies and gentlemen...an elephant. Be grateful I survived.

The next snake they showed us was a jumping snake. It was in a wooden box at first. The snake people poked at the snake and you would see his tail flip up and then his head...and then with out warning I saw the snake fly across the room in slow motion! His teeth gnarling, venom spiting from his mouth, his body ready to strangle the neck he fell on. Luckily the snake landed on Brighten who was sitting right next to me...and luckily the snake wasn't a snake, but a rope. All of us girls screamed and flew into the fetal position while the snake guys and guys in our group laughed and laughed...ugh boys.

So all of that was pretty cool, but the coolest part was that I, yes me, got to hold a real live python! They wrapped it around my neck and it immediately started squeezing. I could not relax. I just squealed and laughed uncontrollably, but you try holding a python. It didn't help that the cute boy had a two-pronged something that he pricked into the back of my leg...ugh boys.

Butterfly Farm

2008-05-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

On Friday we went to a lot of touristy places. The first place we went to was the Butterfly farm. This place was really beautiful, but it was anticlimactic compared to the Night Safari the night before. They had rows and rows of hanging orchids; the roots dangled two feet below in the open air. The butterflies were kinda cool, but seeing butterflies out in the open is more exciting than seeing them in a cage...that is all butterflies except these monster butterflies. They were huge!...and disgusting. They looked like a tarantula with wings.

The coolest part of the place was their gift shop. They took the actual butterfly wings or orchid petals and put them in lacquer and then made necklaces and earrings. They were awesome! I definitely think I am going to get some before I leave. If anyone wants me to get them a set I'd be more than happy to do so...

Chiang Mai Night Safari

2008-05-21T03:06:00.001-07:00

This was by far the coolest zoo I've ever been to in my entire life. I was expecting the night Safari to be located out in the boonies: a run-down "sketchy" cement building where bugs, dogs, and lizards roamed freely--this was the common scene I had experienced of Chiang Mai thus far...However, this was not so with this night safari. At dusk we drove into a large gated property. Deer casually grazed on the beautifully manicured lawn. Lights highlighted the gorgeous architecture complete with pagodas and intricately designed statues of elephants and dragons.

As soon as we got there we were directed to an open air trolley which drove us around the park to see lions, tigers, bears, deer, hogs, alligators, and cougars as they roamed in their large caged-off habitats. That ride alone satisfied our craving to see exotic animals, however, as soon as that ride was finished we were ushered off to a second trolley ride which led us to observe animals of the savanna: elephants, zebras, giraffes, hippos, and rhinos. The zebras roamed freely about the park. About fifteen of them blocked our road. We got to see the animals up close as they slowly moved to let the trolley through. It was so cool because all of the animals were out and about (most are nocturnal). Even the lions, tigers, and bears were visible, unlike zoos at home where the animals hide in their cheap plastic caves during the day.

One of the best parts of the night was our tour guide. He spoke English, but it was adorned with a thick Thai accent. He expounded on the ferocity of some of the animals warning us that if we were to leave the trolley and jump the electrical fence we would "die--forsure." As we looked at the black bears he explained that black bears will attack the first moving object so we must be very still if we ever meet one in the wild. However, if we meet a mama bear with her cubs we should run or we would "die--forsure." When we drove up to the large white tigers we oohed and awed and awaited the tour guide's explanation of how to avoid being eaten alive were we to meet a tiger in the wild. "If you meet a tiger in the wild, you shouldn't run away; you should just let him eat you because if you try to run away you will die--forsure."

I thought we were done with our night safari, but as I was adoring the beautiful open air marble women's bathroom I heard the theme from "Star Wars" blast through the park. Jessica came running in and told everyone in the bathroom to hurry out because something was going to happen. We ran out to the park's sparkling lake and lo and behold--A gigantic water screen projecting night safari images across the sky. Whoa--wasn't expecting that one. After the dramatic introduction the screen expanded, fountains started bursting out from the depths of the lake, colorful lazers and lights filled the dark purple horizon as the lake transformed into a breathtaking light show. We all laughed as the colorful swashes danced to the them from "Mission Impossible." I couldn't believe that the park chose to give this amazing presentation even though there were only 30 or 40 people in attendance that night. How do these guys stay in business?

So I thought that the light show was for sure the end of the Chiang Mai night Safari, but no...that's right...there was more! We walked through a third section of the park that highlighted more animals including fish, birds, snakes, tigers, porcupines, and hyenas. One of the coolest parts of this section off the zoo was when we disturbed a tiger. One of the big cages held two gorgeous white Siberian tigers. We were so close to them that I could have reached out and touched one. No flash photography was allowed because it bothers the animals and Jon said that if the tigers got mad enough they could easily jump the 15-foot walls holding them in...but you can't get a good image if a tiger is crouched within a dark cement cage. So what did I do? I gave my camera to my friend, Zach, and told him to take flash pictures of the animals while I hid behind Jul. He willingly obliged. The animal got angrier and angrier until finally he had had it with all the flashes. He crouched his gigantic body into an attack position and then "pounced" against the cage wall which sent a loud rattling echo throughout the park; Jul and I took off running and screaming...and can you believe it?--all of this for only 250 baht ($8).

Jungle Hike to the Waterfalls

2008-05-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we started the day by hiking through a jungle to explore some beautiful waterfalls. It was super slippery and humid; bugs were everywhere. However, we hardly noticed because we were transfixed with the unique foliage that we rarely see in the States. As we were hiking I asked if there were tigers in this particular jungle. My facilitator said "probably." Ooooh...Okay, so we didn't see any tigers, but we could have...and that's the cool part.

Maejo University

2008-05-14T05:50:00.000-07:00

After staying at the Baan Thai hotel for a week it was time to move in with my host family and start teaching, but…oh no! A change of plans. I guess the school with my host family isn’t ready for the English teachers yet, so I have been sent to live with the other BYU students in the dorms at Maejo University and I will be teaching around here for two weeks. After the two weeks we will go and live with our host families and teach at the other school. The president of Maejo University graduated from Oklahoma University and decided to make the mascot of his Thai university reflect the hero of the American west: the cowboy. It is the funniest thing to see old west icons mixed with a traditional and modern Thai culture, but I love it here and I am excited the next couple weeks.

Om Dang

2008-05-14T05:40:00.001-07:00

Om is one of the most hyper active kids I've ever met. He's out of control! Jon baptized him a few years ago and he said it was a memorable occasion. He said, "Thais don't like water to begin with, so when you tell a hyperactive 8-year-old Thai that you're going to dunk him in water..." All of the sudden, Om jumped onto Jon challenging him to a boxing match...We all got the picture. Om is 11-years-old and he loves the BYU students. He hangs all over us (especially the girls). He is constantly running around and teasing us. Om looks like he's nine...I guess everyone here looks younger than Americans who are the same age. He's starting school tomorrow and is not happy about it. He wants to drive around with his mom and dad and show the BYU students the sights of Chiang Mai.

Sister Dang

2008-05-14T05:32:00.001-07:00

Sister Dang is one of the sweetest women that I've ever met. She is shy but very observant. Sister Dang watches out for the BYU students like we're her children. For example, I've been wanting sticky rice with mango for breakfast, but vendors only sell it at night. I mentioned this casually and a little bit later when we passed a stand selling sticky rice and mango she worked it out with the vendor to prepare a bag that kept all the ingredients separate so that I could prepare it for myself the next morning. It really meant a lot to me that she would go out of her way to do that. Sister Dang is really good with her two boys and they adore her. It feels good to have an older woman looking out for us.

Brother Dang

2008-05-14T05:19:00.001-07:00

The first Thai family that I've met is the Dang family. Brother and Sister Dang and their two boys are members of the Chiang Mai branch. Brother Dang is super nice and funny. He is constantly joking and laughing. Brother Dang is a rote dang driver...hence his nickname. We hire him out for a day a few times a week to be our personal rote dang driver. On Sunday he took us to the local hot springs. He knows all of the best no-name restaurants around the city and takes us there when we're looking for a good place to eat. He's laid back, but a very hard worker--a seemingly contradictory description, but this trait apparently epitomizes Southeast Asian culture. He is a surrogate uncle for all of the BYU students here.

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T03:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was mother’s day. I was thinking yesterday that this trip is kind of a waste because I know that my mom would do such a better job at it. If my mom were alive and participating in this internship she would have made tons of Thai friends already. She wouldn’t just know their names, but she would also know their personal stories. She was always the one to initiate conversation; I’ve always been the silent observer. I’ll sometime reach out of myself, but mostly because I feel obligated to do so. My mom naturally reached outside of herself in response to a deep yearning to learn about the world around her and the people who populate it. I’m shy so I use the language barrier as an excuse, but it would hardly hamper my mom’s ability to understand what makes someone tick. In fact, the language barrier would be a fun challenge, and she would want to know about someone that much more. But enough of this! Instead of lamenting how un-Nancy I am, I’m going to use this experience as a chance to develop the skill she so successfully perfected. She left a legacy behind, and I'm grateful for her example. I’ll have to customize the skill to fit my Alyse-ness, but now’s the perfect opportunity to do it. My taxi driver is no longer my taxi driver, but a child of God who has an interesting story just waiting to be told.

Thai Food

2008-05-10T02:12:00.001-07:00

So far I’ve eaten very little authentic Thai food. The first meal I had here was Pizza Hut and then we went to Dairy Queen for dessert. For breakfast we have fried eggs and toast, yesterday we went to Baskin Robbins. My first try at Thai food was a disaster. We went to a food court and pointed to pictures to order. Jessica ended up with a plate of cold fried chicken and I got tomato macaroni. Yum (note sarcasm).

However, yesterday we went to a nicer Thai restaurant. There was a large crock-pot on our table. The waitresses gave us a menu and stood there waiting for us to order. I ordered green noodles (I thought it had some kind of sauce or something) and Jessica ordered fried rice. We tried to give our menus back, but the waitress just looked at us like we were crazy. She pointed to the crock-pot and then back at the menu. We didn’t know what she was trying to say, so we ordered some more food. We looked back up at her and she just seemed confused. She took the crock-pot and our menus. So our meal consisted of fried rice, unflavored noodles, and two trays of egg rolls. We realized later we were supposed to order stuff to put in our own custom soup that would cook on our table. Whoops. Oh well, the food was really good.

Luckily that night, our facilitator took us to a buffet where they had the same kind of crock-pot only it was more like a grill. You went to the buffet and got raw meat, veggies, tofu, sauces and other stuff and you put it all into the crock-pot to cook. You put your meat on a mini grill above the soup and all the meat juice dropped into the soup and flavored it. It was soooooooo good. One gross thing: There were flies all over the place. Sticky sticks had been placed right above the food to catch the flies. Each stick was covered with huge flies covered in goop wiggling in hope of being set free. One of the sticks fell right into a pile of raw meat. The worker just picked it up and put it back in place and peole kept grabing the meat like nothing had happened. Yuck.

Central

2008-05-10T02:07:00.000-07:00

Central is a huge mall full of crowed shops and restaurants. It’s a cross between an open-air market, a strip mall, and a regular mall. All the buildings here have been built onto at least once including this mall. Its got so many twists and turns because of all the add-ons. And this place is huge. It got about 5 floors and each floor is monstrous. I’ve never seen so many shoes in one place in my entire life. And all of them are under $6. There are hundreds of cell phone kiosks. I don’t how they all stay in business. Central is our groups central hub. This is where we meet before heading out to our various activities.

Baan Tai Hotel

2008-05-10T02:03:00.000-07:00

The hotel where we are staying is beautiful. It’s only $28 a night which is apparently more expensive than most hotels here. The whole thing is made out to dark wood. Wood floors, walls, ceilings—everything. There’s no door into the hotel, but everything is covered. Our room has a balcony and air conditioning. We get fried eggs and toast every morning and we’ve gone swimming most mornings. Ahh. This is the life.

Rote Dangs

2008-05-10T01:52:00.000-07:00

When we got picked up from the airport Jon, our facilitator, had us ride in a rot dang. A rot dang is a red flat bed truck with benches, sidewalls, and a ceiling installed. The back stays open. Its really cool, and it only costs 20 baht (66 cents) to go anywhere in the city. These vehicles are how we are going to be getting around for the next three months.

Singapore Airlines

2008-05-10T01:37:00.000-07:00

I traveled with Jessica Halsey, a girl who will also be teaching English. After riding on Delta from Salt Lake to LA the two of us were really impressed with Singapore Air. When you walk onto the airlines dozens of smiling faces are there to meet you. I don’t know for certain, but I’m pretty sure that winning a beauty contest is a requirement for being hired onto Singapore air. The only people who interacted with the passengers were female. All of these stewardesses had on matching traditional dresses (with a very complimenting slit up the side). They all had matching blue eye shadow, maroon lipstick, their eyeliner followed a similar shape, and their hair was pulled back into matching French buns.

On the plane we watched tons of movies and they fed us two meals, and served us ice cream and other snacks. The prescription sleeping pills I think were also contributors to reason why the flight was such a pleasant experience. I say next to this lady from Tokyo who noticed my thumb was injured and helped me during the flight.

When we finally made it to Singapore airport, Changi. Wow. This airport is posh. The picture above is from the airport. There are indoor gardens, a movie theater, cafes, massage salons and chairs. Everything is super clean and fancy. It looks very modern. Everything is in English. I think English is one of the official national languages.

One funny thing though, with all its modern-ness, when we ordered a cinnabon from a café we noticed that bugs were crawling all over the food. I guess that’s not that big of a deal here. We were there for 5 hours and we were tired. We slept on red plush velvet armchairs—pure bliss.

A little later in the airport Jessica was chewing gum and I told her to spit it out because its against the law to chew gum in Singapore (they are very clean). A few minutes later three soldiers walked by with AK-47s in their hands and sabers in their back pockets. Jessica turned to me and said, “It’s a good thing that I spit out my gum.”

Why are you going to Thailand and what do you expect to get out of it?

2008-05-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

Good question! And frankly, I have no idea…It all started with Sabrina Packard encouraging me to go with her on a three month internship to Southeast Asia so she wouldn’t be alone, but then she pulled out and I found myself going to Thailand with no one that I knew and with no purpose other than the fear that if I pulled out, Ralph wouldn’t give me a good recommendation on my graduate school application.

However, Ralph’s stamp of approval lacked the sufficient enticement I needed to convince me to participate in an internship half way around the world that would require me to fly over an ocean (my worst nightmare). But despite my lack of substantial reasons for going, I did have three main reasons why I didn’t want to go to Thailand. First, I was convinced that I would die (terrorism being the obvious cause, of course), second, it didn’t really relate to any of my career ambitions, and third, it meant that I would for sure be spending one more summer single. Laugh all you want, but I saw this internship as a possible death sentence, an irrelevant resume embellishment, and a marriage-inhibitor (listed in increasing order of importance).

In order to help me with the impending decision, I sought my Uncle Tom’s fount of knowledge. Instead of admitting that spinelessness was the real explanation for my hesitancy to participate in the internship, I made my uncle endure an hour montage of shallow justifications disguised as a noble deference to reason.

Tom listened politely and commented here and there, but when I was all finished he merely replied, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” Suddenly I was standing in a marble hallway with vaulted ceilings surrounded by a dozen adolescent boys garbed in gray school uniforms listening to Robin Williams declare, “…we are food for worms lads…believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die…Carpe Diem. Seize the day…make your lives extraordinary.”

My uncle’s point was well taken. I began thinking, “My lack of a husband and a steady career are the reasons why this opportunity is even a possibility. This is my time to soar, to take chances, and to explore my capabilities. Destiny made the internship fall into my lap at the precise moment when I had no financial restraints, when I knew I would be free of educational and occupational obligations, and when my prospects for marriage were all but dried up. This is my time to step out into the unknown and seize the day!” I was excited, invigorated, ready to give three months of my precious youth to a mysterious Southeast Asian adventure…Or at least I thought I was until I went home and read the rest of Robert Herrick’s rosebud poem and realized that he wrote it to young virgins encouraging them to get married before their beauty decayed.

Frowny face. My enthusiastic bubble burst and was once again replaced with dramatic irrationality. Angry Thai revolutionaries, soup kitchens for the unemployed, and Sherry Dew haunted my dreams. But, in the end I have decided to participate in the internship mostly because my intense fear of not landing a successful job in the rat race, or worse, becoming an old maid at 22 revealed to me a simple truth: I have been in Provo way too long.

So off I go to visit the other side of the world, and what lies ahead is a secret waiting to unravel. This will be the coolest capstone to my major in Sociology! What better way to evaluate the struggle between individualism and social structure than in a society I know nothing about?
Although I’ll be teaching English without pay, Ralph and Jon insist that our purpose is not to offer “service” (meaning they don’t want us to engage in self-righteous attempts to impose western ideals on unsuspecting Southeast Asians), but instead to learn about and learn from a culturally rich society. That’s not to say I won’t try to help the people that surround me, but this internship is not supposed to be a self-serving vehicle used to flaunt a belief that American’s are better than Thai’s, but rather an opportunity to exchange and embrace truth across global frontiers.

I have been promised that if I allow myself to open up to these people and accept their idiosyncrasies I will awaken a deep appreciation for God’s children throughout time and space. Their idiosyncrasies will help to chip away at my narrow definition of reality and shake my ontological foundation. I suspect that by the end of my visit to Thailand I will realize that their “idiosyncrasies” are no more idiosyncratic than the “natural” and “normal” social elements that have characterized my life thus far.

With my social bearings awry I will be forced to reach outside my limited perspective, grapple in an uncomfortable sphere of relativity, and then finally discover a common thread that ties the eastern and western world together. Thank you Sabrina Packard!